Buildings made of reinforced concrete long have been constructed for both residential and commercial use. Typically, such buildings are made by using forms for retaining steel reinforcements and for shaping and defining the dimensions of the walls and other components of the buildings. The forms generally are made in modular sections in the form of sets of parallel surfaces or plates, and the concrete material is poured between the forms which remain in place until the concrete has set or become hardened. The forms then are removed and various combinations of forms are put together to form walls, roof panels and the like for another building. Generally, the form construction requires interlocking elements which are relatively expensive and cumbersome to use. In addition, skilled labor is necessary to insure that the forms are properly placed and supported to produce the desired building structure. Even so, this is the common approach which typically is taken in the construction of buildings having concrete walls, roof panels and the like.
In some concrete building constructions, particularly large commercial installations, the floor and foundation of the building are formed first. Once the floor has set, forms are placed on the floor for the walls which then are poured in a horizontal position using the main floor of the building as a support base for the lower or back side of the wall form. After the wall panels which are poured into such horizontal forms have become set, the panels are raised up by means of heavy duty equipment to a vertical position around the periphery of the floor and to form internal walls. Such later-formed concrete walls must be attached to the floor or slab of the building by suitable means and the joints between the lower edges of these wall panels and the floor must be sealed to prevent water and air leakage. Although this type of construction is relatively widely used, it requires heavy duty on-site equipment to erect the walls and hold them in place while different wall panels are being attached to one another and to the floor of the building.
Efforts to provide simpler and less expensive reinforced concrete buildings which overcome the disadvantages of the two different construction methods described above have been made. Of particular interest is the patent to Gamber, U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,611. This patent is directed to the construction of a concrete reinforced building in which both the walls and roof are constructed of reinforced concrete. The outline or general framework of the building is first formed by steel rods which are assembled together in the overall shape of the building. These rods form the shape of both the sides and the roof. The horizontal rods, vertical rods and angled rods forming the roof all are interconnected where they contact one another by means of wire binding. Once the rod framework is in place, it is covered with inner and outer metal screens on both the walls and the roof. The screens are connected to the rod frame by twisted wire loops and the entire frame and screen combination (walls and roof) is sprayed with concrete through a nozzle such as a Gunnite type until the desired thickness of the wall and roof is maintained. The rods which form the shape of the building and the wire mesh all are bound together in the concrete to form a unitary structure. Thus, the original building frame becomes part of the integral structure of the completed building.
Another patent of the prior art utilizing reinforced concrete with an integral open metal frame is the patent to Neff, U.S. Pat. No. 2,365,145. This patent discloses a structural technique in which the walls and roof of a building are formed as a continuous arch. The building slab is poured first. An open metal frame then is put in place, generally in the form of a barrel or hemispherical-shaped outline extending from the slab to the peak of the roof of the building. This frame is covered by expanded metal lath and is finished with concrete. The walls and roof constitute a single unit and the supporting rods which give shape to lath remain in the finished structure. Thus, if a second building is to be constructed in accordance with the method of Neff, it is necessary to produce another set of forms or supports to create the shape of this subsequent building. This additional set of forms and supports then is consumed in or becomes a part of such second building when it is completed, and so on.
Two patents directed to the fabrication of reinforced concrete roofs having curved or compound-curved configurations are the patents to Heine, U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,360 and Widmer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,806. The Heine Patent discloses a system for fabricating a reinforced concrete roof having a compound-curved configuration. Wire cables, under stress, form the outline of the curved roof. A fine mesh is placed over this outlined structure. Plywood sheets or the like then are placed underneath the structure beneath the mesh before applying concrete to it. After the concrete sets, a temporary frame from which the cables are stressed and which is located about the periphery of the roof, is removed and the plywood sheets are removed. There is nothing in this patent which indicates the manner in which this roof is to be connected to any walls, if any. The illustrations are of free-formed roof members which touch the ground at spaced points and which typically may be used as covers for aircraft.
The structure of the Widmer Patent is one in which a wire mesh is suspended between temporary supports. The mesh is coated with a release material and netting is placed over the mesh. A binding material is placed on the netting and is allowed to harden. After the structure has set, that is after the binding material has hardened, the temporary supports and the underlying wire mesh are removed or stripped away. There is no mention in this patent of when the building walls are constructed in conjunction with the roof, but it appears that the roof is formed in place and that building walls of otherwise conventional configuration (that is block or frame) are constructed and attached to the roof in some way. The manner in which the underlying mesh which supports the roof is removed prior to or at the time of erection of the building walls is not disclosed in this patent. The patent does not disclose an integral formation of a roof/wall building structure.
It is desirable to provide a reinforced concrete building module which overcomes all of the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above. It is further desirable to provide a reinforced concrete building structure and method which does not require heavy equipment, which employs reusable, removable forms of very simple configuration, and which employs materials which readily may be incorporated into the building structure by unskilled labor.